Is Indonesia's Largest Oil Import from Saudi Arabia?

It turns out that Indonesia's largest oil importer is not Saudi Arabia, but Singapore. Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), oil (and its derivatives) imports from Singapore reached 15.98 million tons in 2015. Meanwhile, oil imports from Saudi Arabia were third, at 6.3 million tons. This figure is also below oil imports from Malaysia, which reached 7 million tons.

Throughout 2015, Indonesia's oil imports totaled 48.3 million tons, a slight decrease of 1.5 percent compared to 2014, which reached 49.1 million tons. However, the value of Indonesia's oil imports in 2015 decreased significantly by 45.6 percent to US$24.6 billion compared to the previous year's US$45.27 billion. The decline in global crude oil prices since mid-2014 managed to suppress the value of Indonesia's oil imports.

The visit of Saudi Arabian King Salman bin Abdulaziz's delegation to Indonesia was utilized by the Indonesian government to enhance trade cooperation between the two countries. Besides obtaining cheaper oil imports, King Salman's visit to Indonesia was used to increase Saudi Arabian investment in Indonesia. One example is investment cooperation in the expansion of the Cilacap oil refinery.